Revealing the Value of Cultural Landscapes (original) (raw)

being told at many properties is expanding and includes myriad landscapes, designed, vernacular, and ethnographic. The genesis for this special issue of CRM was based on recent activity in the interpretation of cultural landscapes, along with the need to expand the interpretive program at many sites to embrace the landscape. The articles included in this issue illustrate the range of activity associated with landscape interpretation, including research, planning, and treatment, in the U.S., as well as Australia, Greece, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The authors represent a variety of disciplines with varying roles associated with interpretation and, therefore, provide diverse perspectives on the topic. As such, this issue is intended to stimulate interest and promote an enhanced dialogue among a variety of professionals regarding innovative and successful interpretation methods and techniques which will assist the public in appreciating the cultural landscape as part of our national heritage. Research and Documentation It is through research and documentation that we can begin to understand the manner in which farming has changed within Canyon de Chelly National Monument, AZ, the diversity of cultural resources that exist within the U.S. Forest Service lands, or how a culture has moved through time and space as illustrated by the stone carving traditions of graveyard markers in Boston, MA. Research uncovers the historical evolution of a landscape and defines the features, values, and associations that are significant and, therefore, is a prerequisite to its interpretation. Research and documentation focuses in part on the array of components contained within a cultural landscape, including visual and spatial relationships and character-defining features. As Friedman states, the "landscape, including trees, plants, shrubs, and walkways, are comparable to cups, chairs, tables, paintings, and candlesticks." According to landscape historian Dr. Cynthia Zaitzevsky, "Until relatively recently, historians have played a minor role in projects involving historic landscapes.... Additionally, the owners of historic house museums often did not realize that the grounds surrounding a historic house might be of as much historical importance as the structure itself." 2 It is this newfound recognition for rigorous research that is